Riding Through Shadows
by Leoparddapple
Summary: The Millennium Spirits are not the only problems that Ryou Bakura and his new friends have to face. Yami Bakura and a host of new enemies await to test their human hosts in the most unimaginable ways.


Book One- Riding through Shadows

**Introduction **

5,000 years ago, in the deserts of Egypt, our story finds a purpose. A village called Kul Elna was burned to the ground by the guards of Pharaoh Aknamkanon. The people of the village were killed, their souls deposited and used for the crafting of seven Millennium Items. Only one person escaped from this fate; a young boy named Akefia, who sought revenge against the pharaoh for the death of his people. Years later, he became the Thief King, and attacked the palace numerous times, stealing priceless items, including the Millennium Ring, one of the seven original Items.

Aknamkanon's son; Atem, who was Pharaoh at the time, sought to destroy the Thief King, and eventually did so, encasing his soul and the spirit of Zorc Necrophades; a terrible spirit, into the Millennium Ring. Atem's soul was encased in the Millennium Puzzle, and was locked away for safe keeping.

The people of Egypt thought that the Thief King and Zorc Necrophades had both been destroyed, but this was not so. Inside the Millennium Ring, the two spirits merged and a realm of darkness was created. This became the Shadow Realm, and the newly merged being was its leader, Yami Bakura. For thousands of years, he would rule alone, but all the same, he could not do it by himself.

In the year 1300 in the beginnings of the Renaissance Era, in the country of Britain, there was a boy named Drake who cared for the hidden dragons of the world. His favorite dragon was a winged serpent named Beatrice, who was killed by poachers when Drake was nine years old. Drake was scarred for life from this incident, and loathed all other humans since.

Drake wandered the world in search of dragon allies. He met many more dragons in his travels and the dragons decided to give him powers of his own. They granted Drake the power to fly and the power to speak in all Dragonkin tongues. He took his dragon army and they sabotaged the kingdom where he grew up, but the kingdom fought back bravely. Most of the dragons were killed, but others retreated. Then a young archer shot the dragon Drake was flying in the heart, instantly killing it. Drake fell of the dragon and glided safely to the earth below, but was not fast enough to flee the falling dragon, which landed on top of him and crushed him.

Yami Bakura had watched the scene from his realm, and agreed that Drake was very powerful, and wanted him to assist him in his reign of Darkness. So a messenger was sent to take Drake to the Shadow Realm. There, Drake was made the First Lieutenant, and the dragons that were defeated in the battle were brought to the Shadow Realm also, and a home was made for them that would be known as the Dragon Woods. Beatrice came to this realm as well, overjoyed to be reunited with her master. Now Yami Bakura had a First Lieutenant, but he wanted a second one as well. . .

A few centuries later in the same country of Britain, during the Victorian Era of 1877, a young girl named Marie was separated from her father for a very long time. She was depressed with the idea that her father never said goodbye to her, and thought that she was loved by no one. She was driven into madness and when she was 17 years old, she murdered her older sister Amelia and her father. She joined her three friends Annabelle, Desiree, and Linda to form the Red Sister League, a group of crazed assassins. One day Marie and her friends were on a chase from Queen Victoria's guards, and they came to a ravine. Marie tripped and fell to her death, but was met by an angel who took her to a realm called the Time Hall.

The Time Hall was a sacred place where chosen angels watched over the people on Earth by using specially crafted clocks. One clock represented a person, and if the clock stopped working, the person would die. Marie was purified and forgiven for her sins, and made a scholar to teach the future sacred Time Guardians.

All went well for a few hundred years until Yami Bakura attacked and convinced Marie to being evil again. To test her he held out three clocks, and she destroyed all three of them. Two of the clock owners died, but one was trapped, and was later taken to the Shadow Realm as a prisoner. Marie's name was changed to Shadow, and she was made the Second Lieutenant of the Shadow Realm. With this done, Yami Bakura, Drake, and Shadow formed the Shadow Council, a group that could control the forces of the Shadow Realm and use them to conquer and dominate all of life.

Now, three people tied to these three spirits must write the fate of mankind. One is Leopard, a nekomimi girl with a forgotten past. Another is Draco Malfoy, a wizard boy hiding from his past. The final is Ryou Bakura, a parent-less boy who has fled from his past. Together, Leopard, Draco and Ryou must work together to keep themselves from madness, and keep the world safe from the works of the Shadow Council.

**Chapter One: Planning**

It was a chilly spring night, and a full moon was blanketed by a sheet of clouds. The smells of spring rain filled the night air and a soft wind blew through the budding trees. Deep in a hidden forest, standing over a birch tree stump, Yami Bakura was looking up at the sky, his mind and eyes focused on the moon as it sailed through the blackish blue ocean of sky. It had been many years since he had laid eyes on a full moon, and he was awestruck with its luminous beauty. His thoughts seemed to bury themselves into the back of his mind, and all that mattered was the moonlight shining over his face. Sadly, this moment would not last very long. . .

The trees rustled loudly, and the winds were not the cause. Drake the Dragon Child came up from behind his master and out from behind the tress. Yami Bakura's tranquil thoughts were quickly interrupted and he turned to Drake, anger flashed in his wine colored eyes as he did so.

"Drake, you have interrupted my thoughts." Yami Bakura's cold voice hissed in complaint, and Drake's eyebrows lowered.

"You should know this is no time for lollygagging up at the moon." Drake snarled back at his leader, his lips curled in frustration. "We have plans that we need to discuss."

At that moment, another figure emerged from behind the trees. Shadow looked at the other two spirits, her long black hair flowing smoothly through the wind like underwater plants, and her scarlet eyes twinkled.

"Are the two of you bickering again?" she said darkly, the twinkle in her eyes faded and her eyebrows arched and lowered. "We need to discuss our plans while we can still use these temporary bodies."

They were shells they had made for themselves using a sample from their mortal hosts. They wanted to keep a low profile for some time, and did not want anyone to suspect anything if they found three teenagers lying on the ground in the middle of the city, holding bloody knives or something gruesome like that. So just moments ago, they sneaked into Leopard's house, Draco's manor, and Ryou's apartment, pricked their fingers with a needle, and placed drops of their blood into small vials, which the spirits were wearing around their necks.

"Okay, then. We shall begin with where you think we should strike first." Yami Bakura's eyes were fixed on his two Lieutenants, who were giving him undivided attention. Their voices dropped into whispers and they began to discuss their plans.

"I do not think our hosts know that we are on the prowl..." Drake spoke first. "I think we should give them a little bit of a surprise party and 'introduce' ourselves to them." His eyes brightened and flashed with hunger.

"I like that idea." Shadow cooed. "But if we are going to show ourselves to them, we must do it so only they are aware and won't be able to do anything about it. That way we can sort of keep things between us until we decide to strike at a larger target." Shadow and Drake looked at Yami Bakura, waiting for a response.

"I also approve of your idea, Drake." he finally replied after a moment of silence. "And yes, Shadow, we must ensure that only they can see us. We will open a mind link with them later on and speak with them. They can only reply using their thoughts, so no one will suspect anything." He added the last bit because Shadow gave him a confused look.

"In the meantime, we need to find new recruits. Thousands of lost souls do not count as reliable helpers . . . I know exactly where to start." Yami Bakura's mouth curved into a dark, open smile and his teeth glimmered like a dog's fangs. For a brief moment, his tongue flickered out like a lizard's and hunger flashed in his eyes. "There is another Millennium Item spirit, and no I am not talking about that idiot Pharaoh. I am talking about a dark spirit named Mariku, who is trapped in another part of the Shadow Realm and his Item is being carried by a young man named Malik."

"I have heard of this Malik boy." Drake added in. "Didn't he live in a tomb for most of his life and murder his father when he was eight years old?"

"That is the same person, and he did it because Mariku had taken over his body." Yami Bakura explained. "He is currently on a ferry boat that should arrive on the eastern coastline in the area in a few days, and in turn, he will arrive in this area in a week or two."

"How do you know he will end up here?" Shadow asked, looking surprised.

"He is tracking my aura, probably involuntarily on behalf of Mariku's behavior. When Malik finds Ryou and his friends, we will send Mariku an invitation to join us."

"Sounds like a good plan to me." Drake said, sounding satisfied. "And then we'll be one person stronger.''

"I'm glad you approve of my idea." Yami Bakura looked back up at the sky, gazing into the stars. This time, Shadow and Drake dared not to interrupt him, they merely joined him in a view of the starry night air, feeling the life rushing back into their broken souls. It felt good to feel the wind on their skin and the moonlight on their faces. It had been far too long since they had lived, and they wanted to cherish this moment of awakening. They spent the rest of the night staring up at the canvas of sky, and turned when the sky began to lighten, and the trio looked at one another with fear.

"The sun is rising! We'll be seen! We must return to the Shadow Realm!" Yami Bakura's voice was harsh and loud. His lieutenants nodded with agreement and disappeared into the approaching morning, leaving nothing behind.

Meanwhile, Leopard was fitting the last few things into her backpack, grabbing her lunch, and running out the door. She barely made it to her bus stop before the bus pulled in, and sat down next to her friend Draco. Draco had short sandy blonde hair and stormy grey eyes that shined like mirrors. He wore a smoky gray Nehru jacket with a black dragon printed on his chest, slacks of the same color, and leather shoes. He looked a little too formal, almost as if his outfit was a required uniform. Leopard's hair was still slightly damp from her morning shower and her clothes looked slightly ruffled from running outside, but Draco didn't really seem to care. He turned to Leopard with a smile on his face.

"Good morning Leopard." Draco said warmly, his accent was foreign as if he was from a different land. This was no surprise to Leopard; she had known Draco since the start of the school year, when she learned he had lived in England.

"Good morning to you, Draco." Leopard smiled meekly, and started combing her hair with her fingers. "I forgot to set my alarm clock again, so I overslept. . ." The bus stopped again in a more urban part of town, and a few more students got on the bus, one in particular, a teenage boy, sat down behind Leopard. He was tall, but terribly thin for his age. His hair was long, thick and white and his eyes were a deep chocolate brown. He wore a white wool sweater with a green collared undershirt, and a simple pair of jeans. Over his right shoulder was a handbag that held all his possessions. Leopard turned toward the boy, smiling.

"Good morning, Ryou." Her voice was unnaturally soft, as though she had calmed down moments after being rushed. It was no question that she liked Ryou immensely.

"Good morning, Leopard." Ryou nodded his head respectfully. His voice had the same foreign accent that Draco had, hinting that he had been born and raised in the same place as Draco. However, Ryou and Draco did not meet one another until that year in January, when the second semester started and Ryou had transferred to the school. Ryou had now turned his attention to Draco. "Good morning, Draco."

Draco smiled at his friend and replied in a similar matter. Within a few minutes, the school bus had arrived at the school building, and the three friends got off. Leopard made the journey to her locker without much thought about the upcoming day. She was focusing on the dream she had last night. It was so. . strange. . .

Leopard continued to think about her dream during the first class of the day, which was Algebra. Ryou was sitting next to her, and had noticed the familiar look on Leopard's face, of gazing off into space, not aware of her surroundings. Ryou only had to prod her shoulder to get her attention back to the present. She turned and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" Ryou whispered quietly. "What are you thinking about?"

Leopard looked down at her hands. "I had this really strange dream last night. . . I've been thinking about it most of the day." Ryou felt an awkward connection to this in the back of his mind. He had had strange dreams after the death of his mother and little Leopard perhaps lost someone close to her over the weekend and was suffering the same symptoms as he had?

"And no, nothing strange happened to me over the weekend." Leopard seemed to have known what Ryou was suspecting. "It was just a very odd dream about something I don't understand. I'll talk about it more at lunch." Ryou merely nodded, but a feeling of worry crept through him, wondering if something really bad was about to happen, if, maybe, there was a serious problem arising.


End file.
